We Don't Talk About Teddy
by Mein Liebling
Summary: [Based on 'We Don't Talk About Sarah'] James didn't understand why he couldn't talk about Teddy. After all, he was his older brother, right?


I always wanted an older brother. I would beg my parents, "Please? Pleeeeaasssee?" and they'd roll their eyes and tell me that it wasn't as simple as I thought. That didn't stop me from talking about it every chance I got though.

When they brought Teddy home, it was the happiest day of my life. He was so cool! I couldn't wait to share my toys with him. I started going through them, deciding which ones were his and which ones were mine. I borrowed my daddy's label maker and started putting our names on each thing so we wouldn't get them confused.

He cried a lot at first. I'd ask my parents why he cried so much and they told me it was natural. They said when he got used to us and our house he would calm down and not cry all the time. Sometimes though, he'd cry so loud that Daddy would have to take him into the basement where it was sound-proof so the neighbors wouldn't complain.

He slept in Mummy and Daddy's bed for the first month. Sometimes I'd try to join them but they'd always lock their door. Mummy said their bed wasn't big enough for all of us to sleep in. I was patient. I knew the new bed with the bars that they'd set up in my room would eventually be his.

When they felt it was safe to let him sleep on his own, they started putting him in it. He wasn't crying so much anymore by then, and I would lie in my bed and watch him sleep from across the room. They'd take him into their bedroom first and lay with him until he fell asleep, then move him to our room. Some nights after he was moved, I'd see him lying there with his eyes open, just staring at the ceiling, so I'd go over and give him toys through the bars. A lot of the time he'd just throw the toy and then start crying and I'd have to hide under my covers before Daddy came in to deal with him.

Eventually, they started letting Teddy sit with me in the playroom. I was told that I wasn't allowed to give him anything too small or sharp that he could hurt himself with. I was soooo happy! I would sit behind him and brush his hair and tell him he was the best older brother in the world. I showed him which toys were his and which were mine, but he didn't seem to care. Sometimes we'd sit on the windowseat and he'd bang on the window while I drew on it with special crayons.

School started back up at Godric's Hallow Elementary, and I went but Teddy had to stay home. Mummy said he wasn't ready for school yet. I didn't understand why he couldn't come, since he was older than me, but I didn't question it. I'd come home and tell Teddy all the stuff I'd learned. I drew pictures of us playing together. When I showed them to Daddy he'd tell me thank you and take them to keep in his office.

Then came the really bad day. I'll never forget it. I came home from school and Mummy was just sitting at the table smoking. She looked real sad. I went to play with Teddy but couldn't find him. When I went to ask Mummy where he was, she started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said that Teddy was gone. I didn't understand totally, but I started crying too and told her "We need to find him!" She just shook her head and said he was gone somewhere we couldn't go.

Daddy took him bed apart. He threw away all my drawings with him in them. He took my nametags off all the toys. Sometimes I'd find one he'd missed and it'd make me cry. I started collecting them and hiding them, but he found where I hid them one day by accident and got really mad. We weren't allowed to talk about him. It was like he never existed. I didn't think it was fair. I told Mummy that Daddy was mean to make us not talk about Teddy, but she said it was better that way and I would understand when I was older.

I saw Teddy again.

It was just one time, but I'll never forget it. I was with Mummy doing some errands. We went grocery shopping then went to a fabric store in London so Mummy could look at material to make some new curtains out of. She remembered that she had letters to mail, so we stopped at the post office to buy some stamps. I was humming to myself and reading posters while Mummy talked to the lady behind the counter and that's when I saw Teddy. He was as cool as I remembered. I walked over and looked at the poster with his picture, but they'd gotten his name wrong. Somebody had written his name down as Theodore.

I rushed over to Mummy and tugged on her sleeve and told her that Teddy was up on the wall with the other pictures of children, but she got all flustered and apologized to the lady before dragging me out of the post office. I had to shout because she kept trying to talk over me instead of listening.

"I saw Teddy! They've got his picture on the wall in there!"

Finally Mummy slapped me and told me it wasn't Teddy and that it may have looked like Teddy but I was mistaken, and if I didn't stop I'd get in real trouble with Daddy when he got home. I cried and promised to be good, but even after I promised I wasn't allowed to have dinner and had to sit in my room that night. I heard Mummy and Daddy talking in the kitchen and they got kinda loud. Somebody started banging open the kitchen drawers and then Daddy's feet stomped up the stairs but I heard Mummy scream "Don't you dare!" and he stopped outside my room then went back downstairs.

We never went back to that post office and I never saw Teddy again. This is the first time I've talked about Teddy since that day.

* * *

_We Don't Talk About Sarah is what this is based off of. I stuck fairly close to its original storyline._

_For everyone who doesn't understand, Teddy was kidnapped by Harry and Ginny. He was taken down to the basement when he screamed and cried so the neighbors wouldn't get suspicious. Harry got tired of this and killed Teddy, and got rid of everything that had to do with him. James Sirius knew Teddy by his fake name and kept on calling him that, thus making Ginny have to pull him out of the store before anyone realized anything. Then, later that night, Harry came up the stairs to murder James for telling but Ginny stopped him. And that's where the story ends._

_The darker your imagination, the more horrors you see in this story._

_Good luck._

_I don't own Harry Potter. This is for the Wand Wood Comp, Yew. (write about something being guarded-teddy/secret)_


End file.
